the countdown

Lord Deliver Me

2009-07-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You

Lord deliver me
from the desire to be noticed, loved, exalted
Lord deliver me
from the desire to be favored, popular, chosen, or acknowledged
Lord deliver me
from the fear of being wrong, forgotten, or ignored
Lord deliver me
from the fear of being humiliated or left behind

Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You

Grant that I may seek to comfort
rather than be comforted by others
Grant that I may understand and love
more than be understood and loved well
Lord deliver me
from the desire to be noticed and encouraged
Lord deliver me
from the desire to be appreciated and included

Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You

That song by Sara Beth Geoghegan has become my prayer. My whole life I have held all these hidden feelings of being the person that wants to fit in, wants to be loved, wants encouragement, and wants favor. All the while, I have feared being wrong, humiliated, and left behind. My prayer to the Father is that he would transform my desires from worldly to that of the kingdom. I pray that I would live with reckless abandonment for His kingdom. Forsaking all my own desires, leaving them at the throne, and living through His spirit alone. Help me Lord...

Glory to be to You, Lord
May Your name be praised
There is none like You!
Let my spirit say, "Glory to Your name!"

Jesus and King of the Hill

2009-03-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I watched an episode of King of the Hill, and I walked away amazed at the truth of the Christian American Culture that I found within that single episode. It came from season 3 (if I remember correctly) of the long running series, and for the life of me, I can't find any video evidence on the Internet of the episode, but I did find an article on it which I will link below.

However, this particular episode was about Bobby finding Jesus through a tatted up, hip preacher. He [the preacher] walked around and used all these cool Jesus phrases like "Jesus Rocks" and "Satan Sucks." He allowed the kids to which he was ministering to skate around and do all that stuff. Hank (Bobby's father) was not too pleased with this new found faith that Bobby had, and despite all of his attempts, he failed at talking any sense into Bobby. Hank is the simple kind. In the latter part of the episode, Bobby and his new pastor are performing in a Christian rock concert, and there was a showdown of sorts between the tatted up pastor and Hank Hill which went back and forth and ended with Hank telling him, "Can't you see that you're not making Christianity better, you're just making Rock-n-Roll worse".

After this exchange, Hank pulled a reluctant Bobby away from the concert and took him home. Hank then took a box full of old fads and different phases in Bobby's life off of a shelf in his garage and started showing some of the items in it. Bobby began to laugh at the silliness of some of his past fads. He then pointed out to Bobby that when he participated in these various phases of his life, He would have never thought that, at this time, he would be sitting there demeaning that activity of his past. The show ended with Hank telling Bobby, "Son, I just don't want Jesus to become another fad".

In today's culture, that is a resonating phrase and episode. This is a culture, especially in the south, where being a follower of Christ has been morphed into the "hip" thing. Look, there's nothing wrong with a person like this pastor that is trying to reach the unchurched. But it is a common theme among so many within this generation that they have an identity of being a Christian, but they have no substance and relationship with Christ! This is why we see some of the leaders of the youth group go off to college and lose everything they were once about.

In the long run, this faith is about Christ. I truly believe that until we get this engraved into our young peoples mind that we will continue to see a worsening trend of students leaving the faith because it's no longer the "hip" thing. One passage that I feel should be preached to young people (every week, if necessary) is Colossians 1:15-23.

He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorites--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Once we realize that Christ is God himself who lowered himself to have a relationship with us, we will the continue in the faith, and he will never be put on a shelf.

Link to article:http://www.challies.com/archives/articles/church-issues/making-christia.php

The Man... The Myth... The Legend

2009-03-24T21:16:00.001-07:00

John Piper. No, he'd probably die if he heard someone call him that, but I must say that I am so encouraged/challenged by everything that ever comes out of this guys mouth. The guy that coined the phrase "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." That is the crux of everything within our spiritual walk. Take satisfaction in the Lord, and in turn, give Him glory. When you lose a loved one. God is enough. When you lose a job. God is enough. When the worst possible scenario occurs. God is enough. That is what John Piper teaches daily. When we take our satisfaction in the Lord and only Him, through all our tears and pain, He will receive all of the Glory!

Another Piper thought to think about and mull over:
Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

Do Not Be Anxious

2009-02-27T21:30:00.000-08:00

Luke 12:22-34
22 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For live is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: They neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

We live in tough times. People are losing jobs, homes, income, and so on. It's not a good time to be out looking for a job. Matter of fact, it's an awful time. Families are losing their livelihood, and they have children who need to eat. Christ tells us not to worry? How in the world is that even possible. I'll be honest. I live off of a frugal income, and my wife is student teaching right now... But Christ commands me not to be anxious. He then uses a few analogies to tell us why we shouldn't worry.

God even takes care of the Ravens. (v 24) A raven is a very scary, and I'm sure a pretty insignificant bird, yet God tells us that his needs are met. How much more will he meet our needs?
Even the lilies neither toil nor spin.. They are always growing (v 27)
Even the grass is clothed. (v 28)

Later on in the passage (vs 32-24), God promises us that he takes pleasure in taking care of us. I'm sure that his measure of care and our measure of care are drastically different. God will continually provide our needs for us. All of our food, our shelter, and our clothing. How great a Savior He is!

I'm a bachelor this weekend

2009-01-17T16:25:00.000-08:00

Yep. My lovely wife, Whitney, has made her way to the middle-of-nowhere, AL to visit with her grandparents. I've been there before, and it's a great place. I had to work this morning though, so I could not make it. So, in the midst of my boredom, with the knowledge that no one is reading this, I will give you an update of sorts...

My Job:
I need prayer in this area of my life. Right now, I am the only financial provider in my home. Whit is student teaching, and I am working. My resume got a little bit better with a degree in my hand, but in today's economy, I'm not sure it's worth the paper it is written on at the moment. So, I desperately need to keep my job until May at the very least. Luckily, our branch has been doing good, and there is currently no hints of any further lay-offs within our group. However, it is times like this that I am reminded of the Lord's goodness and mercy. The Word tells me that He even cares for the ravens and makes sure that they will have something to eat, so surely he will take care of me and my family as well!

My Interest:
Right now, my interest have peaked to an all-time high. College football is now over, so I have more time to spend watching and catching up on some of my favorite sitcoms and what not. I'm currently most interested in the NFL playoffs. My pick for the Super Bowl: Philadelphia Eagles vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. Also, 24 is BACK! Yes, yes... I've been anxiously awaiting watching Jack Bauer rip some terrorist apart. Only this time, it's domestic terrorism. Also, The Office is back in full force. This season started a little slow, but it is gleefully picking back up. I've been waiting for the Angela, Dwight, and Andy storyline to come together, and they have finally done that. It should be mass hilarity in the next few weeks.

Other than that, I'm not big on New Years Resolutions, because I really don't like to disappoint them. So, I didn't necessarily make a resolution, but my church had one of those "read the Bible in a year Calendars". I've never been really systematic about my quiet times, so I decided to put my foot down and begin this type of study, which is recommended by many big name ministers. So, I've started doing this study in which I will read the OT once and the NT and Psalms twice in the upcoming year. So far, I'm doing good. Hopefully, I won't misstep, because I'm really enjoying it.

What I am listening to:

The Incarnation

2008-12-21T22:40:00.000-08:00

Anytime Christmas rolls around, I feel as though it is always important for believers to really focus on who exactly Christ was, and what exactly He did when he came here to earth. First, it is very important to realize that Christ left the lofty position (John 1, John 6:38, John 7:28, John 8:57-58, John 13:3, John 17:5) of being seated at the throne of God, having humbled himself, and brought down to earth to bear the sins of the people. Also, who did Christ claim to be? People have debated this over and over and over, to the point that many "christians" do not even claim to believe in Christ as God, but only as a good teacher. C.S. Lewis said that Christ was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Messiah. Well, Christ, himself, claims to be the Messiah (John 5:16, John 10:31-35, John 14:8-9, John 20:28).

So, with that in mind, it is important to understand that God sent Christ down here to be fully God, but to be fully man, as well. A.W. Tozer said, in the process of doing this, he veiled his deity, but he did not void his diety. Phillippians 2:1-11 explains the humble position Christ took in order to bear the sins of the world.

So, during this season and every season for that matter, thank God for sending His son to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God. In return, TO HIM BE THE GLORY!!!

Well, I finally graduated...

2008-12-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

It's been a long 4 1/2 years. So, 3 majors (Psychology, Sociology, Social work, then back to Sociology) later, I finally have my degree in Sociology with a minor in Religion. So, what now? Well, I have to wait for Whitney to get out of college, which she will in May. Then, I will go to Seminary in a couple of years (Probably spring or fall of 2010) Where? Well, thanks for asking. That's the issue. I'll either go to Mid-America Theological Seminary in Memphis, TN or New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary extension in Blue Mountain, MS. In other words, we'll see. So, Pray!!

Also, pray that State finds a coach soon and very soon. I'm getting antsy, and I just want to know. Ha...

The Economy...

2008-11-12T17:35:00.000-08:00

When you inject the idea of fear and hunger into the brains of people, it is unbelievable how far left they will turn. Exibit A is found in Germany. Before Hitler came into power, German families were buying loaves of bread with wheelbarrow's full of cash because inflation was so high. Their inflation was around 1600%. In other words, you could leave the house with a load of cash to buy bread, and get to the store and it would not be enough. So, when people get scared, it is amazing how influential someone charismatic can be. In a sense, they begin to look for the government to do things for them, when in reality, it's the last thing that should happen

UCLA just put out a study that said that the liberal rules put in place by FDR extended the Great Depression by SEVEN years. UCLA is not a conservative university by the way. So, what should we do? In my opinion, basic economics should look like this:

Cut taxes for everybody, not just for 95% of Americans. History has shown that this works. First of all, when government raises taxes, they intend to get more money to do things like pay off the national debt. However, in reality, the lower the taxes for everybody, the larger the budget surplus.
Reduce government spending. Enough said. This goes from earmarks to buyouts. Enough said
When taxes are cut, more jobs are created. As much as we love to stick it to the rich, they pay us. May I personally thank some rich guy in Great Britain for paying me. You have your private jet and different homes all over the world, but you give some of your profit to a fellow like me.
When more jobs are created, more tax dollars go into the system.

So, all of this said... Please be logical.

Sorry for this boring topic (YAWN)

I haven't quite figured this thing out yet...

2008-10-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

So, I read my followers post, but I haven't figured out how to do other things that this "blogger" entails.

With that said, I've fallen in love all over again. You may think I'm talking about my lovely wife, Whitney, and I do love her very much, but I do not think I've ever fallen out of love of her. So, I've fallen in love all over again with my Bible. I tell ya... The Bible has been one of those books that I've read, tried to understand, get something when I can, and move on about my business, but there's so much more to it than that. In recent weeks, I have without a doubt, fallen back in love with the Word of God, more now than ever. I know my Bible, but I've cannot say with full certainty that it has ever come to life for me as it has in recent times. I'm a part of a church that has a pastor that teaches the importance of knowing, understanding, studying, and believing in God's Word, and we base everything in our church around what it says. So, I hate to sound as if I'm going all fundamentalist on you, but that's not what I'm doing. I'm just telling my story...

The Bible is not meant to deepen our theology, but to impact our reality. -Beth Moore

My conscious is held captive by the word of God. -Martin Luther

Since I have only one follower

2008-10-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

I'll speak about things a little less broad. I read a book this past weekend. I would highly, highly recommend it to anyone that may happen to be a reader. It's called Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn. What a great book! Sadly, although it was fiction, the storyline is something I could definitely see happening within our country today. It's a book about the CIA, Terrorist, and the government. It's about 500 pgs long, but it's a quick easy read. I also had the time to watch football this weekend. That's always good. I also went to see a movie by myself. I saw Pride and Glory. It was decent. Not the greatest, but definitely not the worst.

So, to sum up this post I just made three subtle suggestions to my one reader. Read Extreme Measures... Watch football... And Watch Pride and Glory, but perhaps, wait until it comes out on DVD.

The end.

Politics of Politicians

2008-10-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

Man, oh, Man....

Who to vote for? Well, what the hay? I'm officially endorsing John McCain. (If everyone else who thinks they're important can endorse someone, why can't I, right?) It's not that I was ever considering endorsing Barack Obama, because quite frankly, I think he falls on the opposite side of the coin on every issue important to me. He's a big government, big spending, and pro-abortion type of guy. The great thing about America is the fact that I do not have to apologize for having views, and neither does Barack Obama or any of his supporters, for that matter. However, it's a sickening thought to think how far our country has ventured from its original forefathers' intent. These are guys that were fed up with the Church of England, taxation, and so on...

The Boston Tea Party was a revolt against the "high" taxes that was imposed on tea, and it was a tax that was only about 5 or 6 percent if I recall. That would be tax heaven compared to our current system. Meanwhile, Dubai is one of the fastest growing places in the world, and their income tax is ZERO percent. We're punishing success and riches in today's soceity at the cost of American jobs. Recently, I've become somewhat of a historian. That's a strong word... I've been reading a lot about the history of our nation lately. So, the other day as I was reading I came across two quotes that two revered figures in our nation said, and it was as if they were reading into and warning against exactly what our country has become or is becoming.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
-Thomas Jefferson

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin

The government has attempted to "take care" of the American people, and it has led us down this long road that is leading to socialism.

So, just a few things to think about. Hope it wasn't too heavy. Promise I'm not serious all the time.